Prof.
Tarcisio Celestino, President of the International Tunnelling and Underground
Space Association, sets goals for the World Tunnel Congress 2017 in Bergen
From the 9th to the 15th of June, 2017, the
International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA-AITES) and the
Norwegian Tunnelling Society will organize the World Tunnel Congress (WTC) in
Bergen, Norway, where the demanding landscapes of mountains, fjords and islands
inspired a very early utilisation of underground space for transportation and
energy generation and storage.
As early as in 1909, the Bergen Railway
linked the Norwegian west coast to eastern Norway through 182 tunnels.
High on the agenda of the WTC event in Bergen
is the bringing together of stakeholders and highlighting the major issues in
tunnelling that are likely to dominate the next few years. The common passion
for “going underground” must be turned into a new means for global
responsibility.
That is why this edition of WTC will be the
occasion to discover the latest state-of-the art innovations in urban planning
and underground construction projects in Norway and worldwide and will focus on
‘Surface Challenges, Underground Solutions’ of which Norway’s technologies have
set the example.
A
dynamic and buoyant sector in a context of global economic decline:
Question
1: The upcoming World Tunnelling Congress will be held on 9-15 June, in Bergen,
Norway with the ambitious theme of “Surface Challenges, Underground
Solutions”. What are the main stakes and
expectations for this edition?
First, there is a growing awareness by the
public about the advantages of underground solutions. In some cases, the
population has reacted very well to initiatives by the Government when adopting
underground solutions to problems that had been considered facts of life. A
good example is the recent Porto Maravilha Project in Rio de Janeiro.
The construction of a tunnel made it possible
to see again the spectacular seafront view of the Guanabara bay and the Sugar
Loaf from the downtown region. The view had been hidden for decades due to the
construction of an elevated highway. As a consequence, a major rehabilitation
program is underway with major benefits for the real estate market and for the
population. In other cases, even more interesting, the people by themselves
have taken the initiative of finding underground solutions to upgrade their
urban environment. This was the case of the Boston Central Post Office Square.
The growing awareness has reflected in an
increase of the demand for underground solutions. Second, the use of new
technologies has brought many advances for the reliability and the decrease of
construction time of underground works.
Question
2: 2016 was another very successful year for the tunnelling industry. What can
you expect for 2017? Are there already
emerging trends for the tunnelling industry?
Even during recent years when the global
economic scenario was not the best, the tunnelling industry was experiencing
some increase. This probably occurred because of the reasons shown in the
response to (your) the first question and to the backlog in infrastructure
which still exists in many countries.
Now, there are indications that we are
approaching a period of significant increase for the industry. Per information
from one of our Prime Sponsors, new orders are increasing. The WTC event will
be the occasion to unveil a new survey on global tunneling market forecasts.
Tunnelling
Industry and Climate change or how tunnelling can reduce negative anthropic
impacts:
Question
3: According to the NASA Global Ice Viewer website*, glaciers lost
approximately 400 billion tons of ice
per year since 1994, with the Artic recording an approximate decrease of its
surface of 13% per decade… Climate Change is now and the report is alarming.
Sea level rise will impact mostly urban areas. How can tunnelling and
underground spaces development limit the harm that could be inflicted on urban
populations?
The most obvious way is by increasing the
capacity of stormwater conveyance tunnels, and by creating underground
reservoirs to store water during high tide storms. Examples are the
Metropolitan Area Outer Discharge Channel Tunnel (MAODC) project in Tokyo and a
parking garage and stormwater facility in Rotterdam and of course the
multi-purpose Storm Management and Road Tunnel (SMART) in Kuala Lumpur.
In addition to melting ice, climate change
has brought a significant increase in the variability of precipitation. The
occurrence of floods and droughts has increased. In my home city, São Paulo, it
rained more in just a few hours at the beginning of April than the historic
average for the whole month. On the other hand, we had the driest March in
decades. In order to mitigate the effects of droughts, the role of reservoirs
and tunnels interconnecting them for better management is obvious.
Question
4: Underground Spaces and Tunnelling planning have emerged as priorities among
the policies of the United Nations. Do you think this will encourage
governments to take action and develop projects in order to protect
populations?
The United Nations International Strategy for
Disaster Reduction strongly suggests planners to take measures which make
cities more resilient.
The excellent performance of tunnels when
compared to that of elevated transportation infrastructure has become evident
in many occasions, for example in the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989 in the San
Francisco Bay Area. Dr. Aliye P. Celik, a sociologist, and the Chairperson of
the Habitat II Conference in Istanbul wrote in the WTC 1996 Open Session in
Washington, DC: “... Tunnels will be a useful tool for water and energy supply,
sewage and transportation systems”. I am sure that governments will more and
more need to show compliance with state-of-the-art planning for their cities
including the extensive use of the underground space.
Tunnelling
Industry and Digital Applications: the future of tunnelling tools and programs:
Question
5: For centuries, the tunnelling industry has always required the most advanced
technologies: nowadays, what is the cutting-edge technology currently used in
tunnelling construction?
The evolution of tunnel-boring machines, rock
drilling and concrete spraying equipment, among others, is remarkable. In all
these, the extensive use of information technology has brought significant
improvement for productivity and reliability of tunnel excavation.
Question
6: Global societies have shifted over the years. The digital era is now on and
it’s impacting world industries and economies. How does the tunnelling industry
adopt these new tools ? (safety applications…)
The use of on-board electronics in equipment
for both mechanized and conventional tunnelling has increased significantly,
bringing improvement related to reliability of the excavations and decrease in
construction time. Similar progress has also occurred in monitoring underground
construction works with the use of fiber optics, information obtained by
satellites, etc. During the San Francisco WTC in 2016, a special technical
session dealt with these developments and their positive impact for underground
excavations.
Question
7: Do these new technologies create a new landscape in tunnelling employment?
If so, what are the most sought-after new profiles for the tunnelling
industry?
Mastering digital tools is essential.
However, understanding the complexity of the phenomena involved in tunnel
excavation (mechanical interaction with a ground mass sometimes characterized
by important variability) is still very important.
About the
International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association:
The International Tunnelling and Underground
Space Association (ITA) is a non -profit and non-governmental international
organization, which aims at promoting the use of underground space as a
solution to sustainable development. Founded in 1974 and operating out of
Lausanne, Switzerland, ITA currently associates 73 Member Nations, 300
affiliated members, 17 Prime Sponsors and 60 supporters.
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